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On media, a reader’s contribution

Here’s an excerpt from the Vancouver Sun that ran Nov 22nd about the hiring of the husband of the minister of corporate priorities by the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA), and the link to the full story:

“VIHA president Howard Waldner, in an interview from Toronto, said he never placed an advertisement for the interim job: “I wouldn’t call it a mistake. In hindsight, perhaps we could have put an advert out. And someone might say we should have put an advert out.” “

“Waldner admitted he made a mistake in approving the Muir contract. VIHA’s board is not looking for Waldner’s resignation.

“Howard has our full confidence,” said Hubbard*. “Howard’s leadership is very strong. People make mistakes. He’s human.”*[Don Hubbard, chairman of VIHA’s board of directors]…

The first story exposes, with a direct quote, VIHA’s Waldner as an arrogant person who has not admitted any mistake was made, and who does not seem to believe he has to play by the rules.

However, the later Times-Colonist story presents a much more contrite view of Waldner stating that he admitted his “mistake”.

Really? Where’s the quote or even some attribution of the “fact” that Waldner admitted it to be a mistake? And mistake my foot. Health authorities damn well know the rules, it’s not rocket science.

This looks to me like the media is helping to make Waldner look contrite so that VIHA can avoid being pressured into firing Waldner.

It’s such a disappointment to see the media play these games helping government to white wash matters. And most people won’t even know that they’ve been hoodwinked into thinking that Waldner is contrite.

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Another example of how the MSM is in the pocket of special interest groups or those who contribute to their pay cheques. Absolutely shameful! How can they look members of the public in the eye when they print/write such BS?

I have a nephew in his last year of journalism at Mount Royal College in Calgary. Now, he is an idealistic young man with stars in his eyes and his entire future at his feet. I worry that his idealism will be co-opted by what appears to be the status quo for the MSM.

It's so difficult to keep track of what one says when one lies their face off. . .

But more and more politicians, when caught, have one of several predictable responses – “I was never aware/I didn't know this or that” (claim innocent and stick to it even when you're an obvious liar); bold faced lies and others in the party repeat it if they know what's good for them (“the HST was never on the radar screen prior to the election” – “we had to act quickly or we would face losing it”) blah blah.

Still better to be honest in this world, I believe. As we can see from their actions in the past and present, a certain party is in a sh__load of trouble as a result. This will happen to Harper and company eventually also.

If one reads the MSM, one would believe that LRT was an inferior transit mode, even obsolete, but in the real world, it is SkyTrain that is indeed obsolete, with only seven such systems in operation (soon to be only five)despite being on the market for over 30 years.

The MSM treat SkyTrain as a “miracle mode” of public transit, yet in revenue operation it has yet to prove; 1) it can carry more people than LRT; is safer than LRT; 3) is cheaper to operate than LRT. Yet the MSN has never printed such news, in fact, the MSM continues with the SkyTrain myth ad nauseoum!

Example 2: The Canada Line is not a SkyTrain line; the Canada Line is a conventional heavy-rail metro (not powered by LIMs as the proprietary SkyTrain) and is not compatible in operation with SkyTrain metro system.

As costs increased for the Canada Line, the scope of the project was reduced to the point that for about three to four times the cost of LRT. We now have a heavy-rail metro that not only costs more to build and operate, it has been designed to have less capacity than LRT to save costs!

Has the MSM every printed a story about this…not on your Nelly, especially when TransLink and the Canada line group spent well over $5 million in MSM advertising telling everyone how good the Canada Line will be!

Example 3: The German built ferries a.k.a. “das zitrones”. It is common knowledge that these boats are gas guzzlers and are only used during peak times, there has been another and more serious problem with these boats…..prop wash.

The prop wash is so strong that it scoured the seafloor around the pilings at the docks making them unsafe and all the BC Ferries docks that the German Ferries use have been expensively rebuilt to accommodate them. As the costs have been hidden from public view for political reasons, only independent estimate can be made and they are huge, in the $100 million to $200 million range and maybe be the real reason why BC Ferries are in financial distress!

Any peak from the MSM …… the only thing you here from that constipated mob is FastFerry debacle, which happened about 20 years ago!

The MSM in BC is nothing more than a right-wing infomercial and has zero credibility. If you have enough money to buy advertising in the MSM, the Editorial Board will craft the news to suit your needs.

Sadly today, most if not all politicians and high level bureaucrats are 'coached' in the way to treat questions from the public or opposition, which ultimately turns the question around and is designed to deflect any ownership of untruth or ignorance.

My two favorite responses by politicians, which tip me off to the big obfuscation to come are, “Thank you for the question. That's a very good question and let me answer it by saying yadd yadda yadda.”

The second favorite is usually always a prelude to a 'fixed' lie. “Let me be perfectly clear about this, yadda yadda yadda…”.

Wasting money on destructive energy projects makes zero sense when there are better alternatives. British Columbia is spending billions on Site C. It could suspend the project today and have less harmful and cheaper sources of clean power operational by the time more electricity is needed.

As is typical of resource management, the regulating ministry sees its prime purpose is to enhance growth and profitability of companies extracting resources. the public share of produced values is no longer material. This cozy relationship costs taxpayers billions of dollars, money that could be spent on renewable energy, transit, daycare, education or many […]

Canada’s Conservatives are committed to the Republican Party value of opposing voter fraud, if someone else is doing it. Like their American mentors, HarperCons protest electoral manipulations even more strongly when no one is doing it. Bill C-76 amends the Canada Elections Act to establish spending limits for third parties and political parties before of a […]

Freelance reporter Bob Mackin wrote that BC’s Legislature was a scandal waiting to happen and he quoted journalism professor and former Legislative reporter Sean Holman about the significant potential for abuse. Mackin blames excessive secrecy and lack of transparency...

BC Hydro's quarterly report for the period ended September 30, 2018 shows the utility is very good at some things. Specifically, borrowing and spending money. In the thirteen years from 2005, assets employed to service BC consumers have almost tripled in value. Trouble is, actual sales to residential, commercial and industrial consumers are less in 2018 […]

The case is clear. British Columbia's Government decided to reduce the public share of natural gas revenues to almost nothing. This is despite substantial growth in the quantities of natural gas being extracted.

Perhaps an even more vile set of falsehoods is BC Hydro's continuing claims that demand for electricity by its BC consumers has been growing steadily. That has led to excessive capital spending that measures in the billions.

Check out the fine work on electoral reform by Merv Adey 2018 fellowship recipient Andrew Seal. It’s a fabulous five part series published by The Tyee. We’d like to raise additional funds to initiate the next fellowship. You can be sure it will support a comprehensive examination of a subject important to all British Columbians.